How did you discover our hero - MK?

[sweetsurrender]

I just thought it would be interesting to find out how we  discovered MK and came to admire him so dearly. 

1985 when I heard SOS on radio.  I waited everyday to hear SOS played again on radio. It was like love at first sound!! Almost 25 years later, I think I love and admire MK more than ever!!

[Rollergirl]

I had a friend who was DS crazy and could not stop talking about them. She made me listen to Alchemy first. The when BIA came out a few months later, I heard "Your latest trick" and I got hooked.

[stefankock]

Back in 1999 a friend showed me a VHS tape of 'On The Night' and although I liked it very much I wasn't a fan imediately. Then in late 2000 I learned about the STF album, bought it and even went to one of Mark's concerts in June 2001. Still I wasn't a 'real' fan, but that changed in June 2007 when i heard one of the 2005 soundboard versions of 'Telegraph Road'. From then on I was a real fan and discovered all the studio albums from Mark, Dire Straits and The Notting Hillbillies. My collection has grown ever since and still does to this very moment and not a day goes by without me listening to Mark. I went to 2 concerts from the KTGC tour last year and am really looking forward to his new album and more importantly to the following tour.

It took nearly 10 years for me to finally apreciate Mark to the fullest and like with wine, I guess it took some aging for me !

[draad]

A really good question.

Like most folk who hear/listen to "pop" music I knew MK from the DS big hits, but that was all.

All change May 2008!!

I was then lucky enough to be invited to hear Mark at the RAH and then to go backstage afterwards. The concert has altered my musical life for ever! TR and Speedway live just took my breath away. Backstage I met Guy and he talked to me for a long time. I told him I knew nothing about him or the other band members, but we talked and talked, and he was the most ordinary straightforward man you could imagine. So humble, so nice. Inamorata - hey, how good is that!! I so admire that man.

Anyhow, back to the question. Since RAH I have got to know all the DS stuff, all Mark's solo stuff, his screenplays, a lot of his collaborations etc, and like you all, I am in total awe of this man's talents. Intelligent songs with intelligent lyrics. He writes beautiful music. A voice that gets better with age. Guitar playing that is a gift from God. On top of all of this he seems to be well grounded and thinks and helps those less fortunate than ourselves. A philanthropist. Yes - so happy to have discovered MK.

PS and to have discovered you guys too!!

[Fieneke2]

Hey most of you know me, I always use a LOT of words!  This time I give you a link where you can read how I discovered Mark! 

http://audiocandy.com/mdat/forum.php?band_id=8948&c=Mark_Knopfler_and_Guy_Fletcher

Please use that one and it will bring you to my special MK and Guy section at my forum. I posted there the biography of Mark and added my comments, thoughts, video's and pictures!  I have many idea's for that forum, but it's a pity that I don't have time enough for the things I would like to post! 

Btw IF you push "Forum index" it will bring you to other sections and my photo gallery etc! 

Fieneke

[Waterline Man]

I suppose growing up in the 70's & 80's it was only natural that you would have come accross DS at some time but I was big into my sport at that time & all the concerts were on in Dublin which is 180 miles away from me so gettng there & back wasn't the easiest thing for me to do.I would have to say that I was into a lot of bands rather that just one but DS were well up the list but as I said getting to a gig was almost an impossability - gigs were usually on at the weekends but we had football on a Saturday or Sunday so it just wasnt possible. I have probably seen more concerts in the past 10 years than I had for the previous 30,flights have become cheaper & places have become more accessible which wasn't the case years ago.
Anyway I had alchemy & BIA on tape & of course the videos for MFN & WOL were very catchy when they came on our screens & everybody was raving about them.I kind of lost touch with the DS thing then in the 90's when they split up but it was typical MK being MK it seemed like they drifted off into the night there was no dramatics or big press release like Take That (who are excellent by the way & its great they are back together).Then I heard STP on the radio in 2000 and my ears said to me hey that sounds like Mark Knopfler ,WOW, how good was that!I went down to the record shop and low & behold there it was but what amazed me was that there was another one there as well called Golden Heart which had a load of Irish guys playing on it- the best

[Hoops McCann]

I discovered an old Brothers in Arms cassette tape circa 2002 laying around. I liked what I heard- not even MFN really, just the whole album...

[IrisRose]

In 1982, a good friend whom I taught with mentioned Dire Straits as we were horseback riding through the Warner Mountains.     She commented that the guitar was out of this world and that Knopfler's lyrics were intelligent.  She said the group stood out from other groups at the time.   When we got back to her house, she played the Communique album for me.   I liked it very much.  I borrowed her two albums and listened to them several times, liking what I heard more each time.    Soon after that, I bought Making Movies.   It was Tunnel of Love that hooked me for good.   

[superval99]

I had heard the name "Dire Straits" pretty much from 1979, but because it was the punk era I assumed they were a punk band because of their name, so, silly me, I ignored them without even listening!   Then around 1983 my son brought home a home-made tape that his friend had made of a few DS songs and on it was Local Hero, The Wild Theme, Romeo and Juliet, Sultans and a few others.  I was curious as to what this band sounded like, so I listened to the tape and it was love at first listen!  I expect it sounds strange that I didn't hear at least SOS on the radio, but I was very busy at that time and didn't listen to the radio much and played mainly classical music at home on my record player, so I think I can be excused!

Next I had to find the name of the amazing guitarist on the tape, so I went into town to the HMV shop and found he was called Mark Knopfler and that he and the singer were one and the same.  At first I was not too keen on his voice, I am ashamed to say and felt that there must have been someone better in the band to do the singing!  The more I listened, though, the more I realised that his voice was the perfect complement to his beautiful guitar playing.  Then one afternoon, probably around 1984, the Alchemy concert was on Channel 4 and I saw Dire Straits for the first time.  I just couldn't take my eyes off Mark and I still can't, to me he is completely mesmerising!  As soon as I had a video recorder, "Alchemy" was the first video tape I bought and I played it over and over and never tired of watching it!

Getting my computer and finding and joining MK News forum was wonderful, because then I realised I was not alone with my MK obsession and I feel truly at home with all of you lovely MK fans!      

[Simon]

It was February/March 1978.

A friend and I played guitar as a duo purely for pleasure. We copied songs and tried to emulate the great guitarists.

He phoned me one day and said come on over I have something to show you. I got the bus to his place in the snow. He had a brand new copy of the 1st album hot off the press almost. We played it once, then twice then again. Each time pretending to be this lead guitarist we had just discovered. Over the next few months we played that album almost non-stop.

DS then did a mini tour of small clubs and Uni's. We went to see them in the November of '78 at a small gig - but it was packed with students and a few music freaks. I think there were only  a handful in the audience who had heard of DS so we wangled our way to the front and stayed there the whole gig - a few feet away from MK. It was an unbelievable experience to see the guy you had worshipped - right in front of you and playing that Red Strat.

After that every album was purchased and a few gigs along the way.

I lost my way with DS when BIA came out as I felt a lot of the songs were too commercial espeically WOL and MFN - I don't like them to this day.

I caught DS in '92 on their summer tour then MK again on a NHB tour.

After that he went away for a while and it wasn't until STP that I rediscovered him and have cherished his playing and his music ever since then.

A bit of a rollercoaster ride I know but thats music ... and he's the one!

[shangri la 1]

Not sure of the exact year, but in the late 70's, early 80's on Australian TV, they used to always have 5-10 minute periods where they needed to fill in time. Just happens that the ABC used the "Tunnel of Love" film clip (The one with the boats and barges etc.) and no matter what I was doing I'd stop everything to listen to it! It was the first thing I recorded from TV on an old reel to reel tape machine that my brother in-law had given to me.

[ingridswing]

In 1978 I simply heard it on the radio (I was 10 years old), I loved it and from my little pocketmoney I went to buy my first album ever! Now it's 30 years later and as you all know I am still in love with this man's music 

[dustyvalentino]

I discovered MK hiding at the bottom of my garden, in the bushes, but I managed to scare him away.

[Slavi]

I discovered MK hiding at the bottom of my garden, in the bushes, but I managed to scare him away.

Hey Dusty, what were you doing in the bushes that time? 

Well, back to 1980 my place to discover the man was not as romantic as IrisRose's. My cousin (R.I.P. and God bless him!! ) used to call me when he had discovered a new music. Our first DS album was Communique. I was  dazzled and stunned. And we fell in love with MK/DS music. I remember that day my aunt was very angry to us because we drank all the bottle with the French cognac Bonaparte, which was designed for her guests...LOL. We were 20 years old then. 

[xxFordiexx]

Well for me I actually heard DS first in about 1985 purely just on the radio and I'm pretty sure it was Walk Of Life.  I don't know what it was but it instantly appealed to me.

I didn't really get hooked until about 87/88 when a mate of mine had communique on cassette and that album just blew me away, I was only about 11 or 12 at the time.

I could not believe the awesome guitar talent from Mark KNopfler at the time and it did not even occur to me that I was listening to a ten year old album either.

I had the chance when I was sixteen to go and see DS live in 1992 at Earls Court London,  never though I'd ever get the chance to see them live after they had split.... Boy what an amazing concert that was.

I started playing the guitar at that time too and the rest is history in MK department.

Seen him in 1992, 1996, 2001 (twice) 2002 and 2008.